This appendix consists of State notes that clarify responses to specific items in the 1999 SDC survey. The item numbers from the survey are referenced in parentheses following each State note. Contact information on the State person responsible for submitting the SDC data is also provided. The survey can be found at www.acf.hhs.gov/cb/programs.
ALABAMA
Deborah Langham
Functional Project Director, ASSIST
Alabama Department of Human Resources
50 Ripley Street
Montgomery, AL 36130
334-242-9517
334-242-0939 Fax
dlangham@dhr.state.al.us
Reports
As of July 1, 1999, "reason to suspect," coded as "Indicated" in
the SDC, was discontinued. "Other Dispositions" includes reports in
which the alleged perpetrator was younger than 12 years of age. No
other dispositions (e.g., substantiated) are allowed for alleged
perpetrators in this age group. "Unknown Dispositions" includes
reports that were pending. Policy allows up to 120 days for staff
to complete, record, and approve an investigation. (Item 2.3)
More than 10,000 reports (10,542) had an average response time of 1 day or less; 2,989 reports had an average response time of 2 to 3 days; 1,920 reports had an average response time of 4 to 5 days; 4,091 reports had an average response time of 6 to 14 days; 2,599 reports had an average response time of 15 to 30 days; and 487 reports had an average response time of more than 30 days. There were 534 reports for which response time was not recorded. (Item 7.3)
Victims
See Reports section above for information on dispositions.
Perpetrators
More than one perpetrator per child may be recorded. (Item 6.1)
Fatalities
Some of the child fatality victims reported this year were also
counted in last year's fatalities. This occurred as a result of a
change in the reporting year. (Items 5.3 and 5.4)
Services
Children counted as having received prevention services are an
unduplicated count as of September 1999. Title XX protective
services are directed toward preventing or remedying abuse,
neglect, or exploitation of children and runaways unable to protect
their own interests who are harmed or threatened with harm because
of the actions of another individual responsible for their health
or welfare through (1) nonaccidental physical or mental injury; (2)
sexual abuse or exploitation; or (3) negligent treatment or
maltreatment, including the failure to provide adequate food,
medical care, clothing, or shelter. Services include (1)
identifying children in need of protection; (2) receiving child
abuse and neglect reports; (3) reporting to the Central Registry
and to juvenile courts; (4) investigating complaints or reports;
(5) diagnosing and evaluating; (6) providing casework services,
including counseling, information, and referral services; (7)
training parents; (8) supervising care of children in home of
parents or relatives; (9) arranging protective placements,
including shelter care; (10) providing or assisting in obtaining
legal services; (11) arranging medical care; (12) making use of
community resources; and (13) transporting runaways and children
under the Interstate Compact.
In combination with these services, certain other services included in the title XX plan may be provided, without regard to income, when used to prevent or remedy abuse, neglect, or exploitation of the individuals receiving protective services for children. These are homemaker and day care services, and they may be delivered directly or purchased from either public or private sources. (Item 1.1)
ALASKA
MaryAnn VandeCastle Research Analyst Division of Family and Youth Services Alaska Department of Health and Social Services P.O. Box 110630 Juneau, AK 99811-0630 907-465-3292 907-465-3397 Fax maryann_vandecastle@health.state.ak.us
Reports
Reasons for screening out referrals include "non-CPS issue,"
"insufficient information," and "workload adjustment" (workload
adjustment occurred when there was not enough staff to respond to
the lowest priority cases). In this reporting period, 244 of the
screened-out referrals were assessed by an organization contracted
to provide assessment and referral services to low-priority reports
of harm. Because these assessments did not meet the statutory
definition of an investigation, they were not included as
screened-in referrals. (Item 2.1)
"Social Services Personnel" includes personnel in social service agencies, human resource agencies, and Native American agencies. "Medical Personnel" includes mental health personnel. "Friends and Neighbors" includes custodial parents' partners and noncustodial parents' partners. "Other" includes those in the community, in grant agencies, and in the military. (Item 2.2)
The Division of Family and Youth Services has a chronic problem with timely entering of investigation disposition data into its management information system. Nearly all of the 4,469 investigations reported as having "Unknown" dispositions have been completed, but the information has not yet been entered. (Item 2.3)
Workload data are based on a monthly average and include all case-carrying social workers but no full-time supervisors. (Item 7.1)
Victims
The unduplicated numbers of children in each disposition category
are reported. However, if a child had one substantiated and one not
substantiated investigation in 1999, he would be counted once as
"Substantiated" and once as "Not Substantiated." (Item 3.2)
Perpetrators
"Foster Parents" includes licensed day care providers. "Child Day
Care Providers" includes unlicensed day care providers. (Item
6.1)
ARIZONA
Nicholas Espadas
Manager, Evaluation and Statistics Unit
Division of Children, Youth and Families
Arizona Department of Economic Security
P.O. Box 6123, Site 940-A
1789 West Jefferson
Phoenix, AZ 85005
602-542-3969
602-542-3330 Fax
nicholas.espadas@mail.de.state.az.us
Reports
"Screened-out Referrals" includes 154 reports that were under
military or tribal jurisdiction and therefore outside of the
State's jurisdiction. (Item 2.1)
"Other" includes substitute care providers. "Parents" and "Other Relatives" include alleged perpetrators. (Item 2.2)
"Other Dispositions" consists of low-priority reports (with a proportionately larger number of children) referred to social services agencies for voluntary services. None of the reports were assigned to a local office for investigation. (Item 2.3)
Average response time was based on whole days. A same-day investigation was reported as zero hours, a next-day investigation would equal 24 hours, etc. Reports with a negative response time or with a response time greater than 1,000 hours were excluded from the calculation on the assumption that they were data entry errors. (Item 7.3)
Victims
See Reports section above for information on dispositions.
Each victim is categorized by only the most severe maltreatment type. "Neglect" includes medical neglect. (Item 4.1)
Perpetrators
The State information system allows for the designation of one
perpetrator per child per allegation. In cases of multiple
allegations, the process for selecting the associated perpetrator
is prioritized as follows: 1) substantiated allegations; 2) pending
substantiated allegations; 3) unsubstantiated allegations; or 4) no
findings. (Item 6.1)
Services
Prevention services are funded through such programs as Healthy
Families, Family Preservation (State funding), Child Abuse
Prevention Fund (CAP), and Promoting Safe and Stable Families
(Federal IV-B, part 2 funding). (Item 1.1)
ARKANSAS
Debra A. Shiell
Manager, Planning Unit
Division of Children and Family Services
Arkansas Department of Human Services
P.O. Box 1437, Slot 700
Little Rock, AR 72203
501-682-1554
501-682-8666 Fax
debbie.shiell@state.ar.us
General
Pursuant to a contractual agreement between the Arkansas Department
of Human Services (DHS) and the Arkansas State Police (ASP), in
1997, the ASP Family Protection Unit (FPU) assumed responsibility
for the Child Abuse Hotline and some child maltreatment
investigations.
The FPU conducts child maltreatment investigations for the following: any placement managed, approved, or licensed by DHS for the care of children, including day care homes, DHS foster homes, residential facilities, and pre-adoptive homes; allegations involving DHS employees; and selected Priority 1 reports. Priority 1 reports are those that describe abuse with a deadly weapon, bone fractures, brain damage/skull fracture, burns, scalding, immersion/suffocation, internal injuries, poison/noxious substances, oral sex, sexual contact, sexual exploitation, sexual penetration, subdural hematoma, or death.
Reports
Of the 565 staff reported, 502 were DHS staff and 63 were FPU
staff. (Item 7.1)
The standard for responding to priority 1 reports is "no later than 24 hours after the receipt of a report indicating severe maltreatment." The average response time for priority 1 reports was 3 hours. The standard for responding to priority 2 reports was "within 72 hours of the report." The average response time for priority 2 reports was 49 hours. (Item 7.3)
Services
In addition to preventive services for children and families
recorded in the SACWIS system and reported to NCANDS, the
Children's Initiative served 11,224 children and families and
Family Resource Centers served 31,692 children and their families.
(Item 1.1)
CALIFORNIA
Glenn Jue
Manager, Children's Services Branch
California Department of Social Services
744 P Street, Mail Station 19-90
Sacramento, CA 95814
916-445-2752
916-445-2832 Fax
glenn.jue@dss.ca.gov
General
The source of the reported SDC data is the Child Welfare
Services/Case Management System (CWS/CMS), the State version of the
Federal Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System
(SACWIS). This is the first year in which the respective counts
were derived by aggregating data from the case-level records
prepared for the NCANDS DCDC. As a result of this new method of
computing SDC data, counts of reports and victims provided for 1999
should not be compared with counts from previous years.
Reports
Staff counts are based on total allocated average monthly Emergency
Response Full-Time Equivalents (FTE's), including supervisory
FTE's. The actual number of FTE's that performed emergency response
work is not reported to the State. (Item 7.1)
Victims
"Other" includes the 48,289 child victims of Hispanic ethnicity.
(Item 4.5)
COLORADO
Donna J. Pope, Ph.D.
Child Welfare Analyst
Child Welfare Services
Colorado Department of Human Services
1575 Sherman Street
Denver, CO 80203-1714
303-866-5976
303-866-4191 Fax
donna.pope@state.co.us
General
These data reflect the best efforts at combining data and databases
with fundamentally different structures. Data come from sources as
varied as hand counts by county staff and phone reports from court
representatives. To the extent possible, the automated data systems
of the Child Welfare Eligibility and Services Tracking System
(CWEST) and the Central Registry for Child Protection (CRCP) were
used to produce the data. CWEST records associate data with an
individual child. CRCP records associate data with an incident. An
incident might include up to six child victims and up to nine
perpetrators. The only common linkage between these two data sets
is the State child identifier, which is a required field in CWEST
but is optional in CRCP.
Reports
Family-based data are hand-counted at the county level. Data are
only available for substantiated or confirmed incidents. (Item
2.3)
Victims
"Other" includes court-ordered services for child protection; and
"Unknown" includes all other program targets with abuse and/or
neglect report dates. Counts are of opened cases, not single
children. Data are from CRCP. (Items 3.1 and 3.2)
Perpetrators
Data on perpetrators have not been included because their
distribution has been skewed by a legislatively mandated appeals
process. A multi-step, extended appeals process must be followed
prior to listing any individual as a perpetrator on the CRCP. Thus,
the relation of the perpetrator to the child is denoted as
"Unknown" for 79 percent of all perpetrators, and as "Parents of
the Victim" for 6 percent, largely because of the appeals process.
Comparable data for the period prior to implementation indicated
that 5 percent of perpetrators were "Unknown," and 81 percent of
perpetrators were "Parents of Victims." (Item 6.1)
Fatalities
Fatality data are preliminary. (Items 5.1-5.4)
Services
"Services" includes contractual core services and out-of-home
placement services that were tracked by CWEST. Caseworker-provided
services were identified for only some of the children. (Items 3.3
and 3.4)
Data on foster care removals were based on comparing the report date of records with an abuse and/or neglect report date that fell within the calendar year to the record's service begin date (the service had to start after the report date). Removals that occurred 91 or more days after the report date were not considered to have resulted from the report. Removal reasons of physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, and abandonment were then used to select out abuse/neglect removals. (Item 3.5)
The number of child victims whose families received Family Preservation Services in the previous 5 years is an undercount because some child victims in the CRCP do not have State identifiers to match to prior services data. (Item 4.6)
Court actions were tracked using the legal status field in the CWEST system. (Item 4.8)
CONNECTICUT
Matthew L. Pasternak
Associate Research Analyst
Information Systems Division
Connecticut Department of Children and Families
505 Hudson Street
Hartford, CT 06106
860-550-6564
860-566-6728 Fax
matt.pasternak@po.state.ct.us
Reports
"Other" includes cases still being investigated as well as cases
pending supervisory approval. (Item 2.3)
The number of Full-Time Equivalent Workers is based on the monthly staffing report, which varied little during the State fiscal year. The Department designates staff by function, including the intake/screening and investigative positions. (Items 7.1 and 7.2)
The average response time is based on the prioritization of reports into categories: 2-hour responses (very few reports were prioritized into this category); 24-hour responses (35 percent of all reports) and 72-hour responses (nearly 65 percent of all reports). (Item 7.3)
Victims
The unduplicated number of children reflects only those children
identified by the reporter at the time of the report. Additional
children may be identified as members of the family during the
investigation. (Item 3.1)
"Other" includes only the children associated with investigations that are pending supervisor approval. The children in cases still being investigated cannot be counted. Therefore, the number of "Other" child dispositions is lower than the number of "Other" report dispositions. (Item 3.2) The State allows up to eight allegations to be recorded for a child during screening and investigation. "Other" includes at-risk and high-risk newborns. (Item 4.1)
Perpetrators
The perpetrator number is duplicated, with no limit to the number
of perpetrators per investigation. For example, both parents could
perpetrate neglect, and one of them could perpetrate abuse as well.
(Item 6.1)
Fatalities
One child died of neglect in an active case. The other two had no
prior history with the Department of Children and Families. (Item
5.1)
Services
Primary prevention services aimed at diverting at-risk families and
children from the child protection system are reported. Secondary
and tertiary prevention services offered to families and children
after a report has been substantiated are not included. The
services to 8,013 children include "therapeutic child care/early
childhood intervention" (647); "family support centers/parent
education and support centers" (5,666); "alcohol and drug
prevention programs" (1,500); and "mentoring" (200). The services
to 9,851 families include "family support centers/parent education
and support centers" (6,690); "Children's Trust Fund" (3,000); and
"young parents' programs" (161). (Item 1.1)
The number of children removed from home within 90 days of a report is counted. (Item 3.5)
"Court Action" includes those petitions filed within 90 days of a report. (Item 4.8)
"Average Response Time" was operationalized as the number of days from the receipt of a report, through investigation and substantiation, to the assignment of an ongoing treatment worker. (Item 7.4)
DELAWARE
Carla Bloss
Management Analyst
Division of Family Services
Delaware Department of Services for Children, Youth, and Their
Families
1825 Faulkland Road
Wilmington, DE 19805
302-892-6401
302-633-2652 Fax
cbloss@state.de.us
Reports
Of the cases referred for investigation, 351 were linked to
existing cases. (Item 2.1)
The response time is based on the determination of "urgent" or "routine" priority. The average response time for urgent reports was 15 hours, within the State standard of 24 hours. The average response time for routine reports was 220 hours or 9 days, within the State standard of 10 days. (Item 7.3)
Victims
The unduplicated number of children subject of an investigation is
7,811. Some children were referred for investigation multiple
times, and some subsequent investigations resulted in different
dispositions. (Item 3.1)
The State uses 28 statutory types of primary/secondary allegations to record substantiated child abuse and neglect. "Other" includes "dependency" (165 cases) and "adolescent problems" (28 cases). "Dependency" includes abandonment, non-relative placement, parental mental incapacitation, or parental physical incapacitation. "Adolescent problems" includes abandonment, parent-child conflict, runaway, truant, and uncontrollable behavior. Adolescent problems, many of which do not clearly meet the usual definition of child abuse and neglect, have decreased in the past several years. (Item 4.1)
Counts of children by characteristic are unduplicated. (Items 4.2-4.5)
Services
Children are served in programs based in schools, communities, and
day care centers. Parent services include parent education, home
visits, and programs in community centers, schools, and
communities. Family services are delivered through the Promoting
Safe and Stable Families community-based program. In addition to
the prevention programs that served families, other prevention
programs served 10,862 parents/adults. Approximately half of these
adults received parent education; another 25 percent participated
in Safe and Drug-Free School activities; and most of the remaining
25 percent were involved in school-based and day care center-based
programs for parents.
In addition to the prevention programs serving children, early intervention school-based programs for children at risk of abuse/neglect, school failure, and delinquency served 8,972 children. Services were provided to at-risk children in kindergarten through third grade and their families in approximately 50 schools throughout the State. These children participated in various activities such as conflict resolution, anger management, and problem-solving groups. Individual interventions were also made on an emergency basis. All school programs operated from September through August. (Item 1.1)
An estimated 389 children who were reported during 1999 were removed from their homes during an investigation. Several factors that made it difficult to accurately calculate this number were multiple reports, investigations, and placements for the same child; placements that occurred while an investigation case and an ongoing treatment case were open for the same child; and lack of a clear definition of a placement episode. (Item 3.5)
The number of court-appointed representatives reflects only Court-Appointed Special Advocates (CASA's); it does not include other court-appointed representatives or private attorneys. (Item 4.9)
In addition to contacts made by CASA volunteers with the child, each volunteer contacts several people, including teachers, child psychologists, and the child, to obtain information about the child and files reports on these contacts with CASA coordinators. (Item 4.10)
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Brenda Sligh
Child Information Systems Administrator
Intake and Crisis Services Branch
District of Columbia Department of Human Services
1101 17th Street NW
Washington, DC 20036
202-263-4051
202-872-1201 Fax
bsligh@cfsa-dc.org
General
The reported data were collected by the new SACWIS system from
October 4 through December 31, 1999. These data were multiplied by
four to provide annual estimates.
FLORIDA
Susan K. Chase
Data Support Administrator
Family Safety and Preservation
Florida Department of Children and Family Services
1317 Winewood Boulevard, Building 8
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0700
850-922-2195
850-488-3748 Fax
susan_chase@dcf.state.fl.us
Reports
All reports received alleging child maltreatment (according to
Florida law) are accepted and require a CPS investigation. This
count includes initial and additional reports. It also includes
some "special conditions" reports that do not constitute abuse or
neglect but require a protective response (e.g., a parent is
hospitalized or incarcerated).
An initial report is the first report received at the hotline alleging maltreatment of a child by a parent, adult household member, or person responsible for the child's welfare. An initial abuse report always requires the commencement of a new investigation. Received after the initial report, an additional report is a report to the central abuse hotline, by the same or different reporter, which adds new allegations of maltreatment, new incidents of the same maltreatment contained in the initial report, additional alleged victims or alleged perpetrators if they relate to the initial report, or subsequent information alleging that the immediate safety or well-being of the alleged victim(s) is threatened (thereby changing the investigation response time from a 24-hour response to an immediate response). An additional report requires additional investigative activity. Therefore, an additional report is referred for investigation but does not become a new investigation. Ultimately, the additional report will be combined with and closed out with the initial report of the same incident. Of the total 152,989 reports referred for investigation, 129,796 were initial reports. (Item 2.1)
"Other" report sources includes attorney, spiritual healer, guardian ad litem, guardian, human rights advocacy committee, and client relations coordinator. Report sources for initial and additional reports are included; additional reporters, who do not provide different information on subsequent reports, are not included. (Item 2.2)
Investigations closed in calendar year 1999 (including reports received in a prior year) are counted under "Report Dispositions." Reports received in the current year but not closed in the current year are not counted. Although one or more additional reports may be received during the course of investigating an initial report, the whole is closed together, as one report, with one disposition, when all investigative activity has been concluded. "Intentionally False" is under reported. "Other Dispositions" includes "special conditions" (7,702) and "no jurisdiction" (384) cases. (Item 2.3)
"CPS Staff" includes call floor counselors (98 FTEs), hotline supervisors (13), protective investigation field staff (912), and protective investigation field unit supervisors (169). These numbers are based on allocated staff as of December 31, 1999, excluding vacancies, overtime, and temporary staff. Hours worked were not tracked. (Call floor counselors and hotline supervisors also receive reports of adult abuse, neglect, and exploitation, which represent about 20 percent of their workload.) (Item 7.1)
"Screening and Intake Staff" includes call floor counselors and hotline supervisors. (Item 7.2)
"Response Time to Investigation" includes investigations closed in 1999 and may include reports received in a prior year. The response commences when the CPS investigator or another designated to respond attempts the initial face-to-face contact with the victim. The system calculates the number of minutes from the Received Date and Time to the Commencement Date and Time. The minutes for all cases are averaged and converted to hours. An initial onsite response is conducted immediately in situations in which any one of the following allegations is made: (1) a child's immediate safety or well-being is endangered; (2) the family may flee or the child will be unavailable within 24 hours; (3) institutional abuse or neglect is alleged (unless the facility is not operating at the time the report is received). When the institution is not operating and the child cannot be located (i.e., neither the child's whereabouts nor home address is known, the investigation must commence immediately upon the program's resuming operation); (4) an employee of the department has allegedly committed an act of child abuse or neglect directly related to the job duties of the employee, or when the allegations otherwise warrant an immediate response as specified in statute or policy; (5) a special condition referral for emergency services is received; or (6) the facts otherwise so warrant. All other initial responses must be conducted with an attempted onsite visit with the child victim within 24 hours. (Item 7.3)
Victims
"Children Subject of an Investigation" includes only children
alleged to be victims, not other children in the household. It
includes children in reports received during the year. It counts
each child for each report in which the child was an alleged
victim. (Item 3.1)
"Child Dispositions" includes children in reports closed during the year. Children in reports received during the year that were not closed during the year did not have a disposition available and were not counted. This number includes only children alleged to be victims, not other children in the household. A child was counted for each report in which the child was an alleged victim. "Other Dispositions" includes "special conditions" (10,111) and "no jurisdiction" (502). "Unknown Dispositions" includes findings that were not entered into the computer system, previously included in "Other Dispositions." (Item 3.2)
"Type of Maltreatment" includes only children found to be victims, not other children in the household. Child victims in these figures have been substantiated ("verified") or indicated ("some indication"). Only children in reports closed during the year are counted. The same child was counted no more than once for each maltreatment category, regardless of how often the child was reported during the year. The majority in "Other" are children threatened with harm; it also includes children who were found to be victims of certain types of maltreatment coded as abuse: "substance or alcohol exposure," if not coded as "Medical Neglect;" "substance misuse," allowing or encouraging a child to use alcohol or drugs; and "poisoning," "abandonment," "inadequate food," and "malnutrition." If coded as neglect, these codes would be counted as "Neglect or Deprivation of Necessities." (Item 4.1)
A child is counted for each report in which he was a substantiated or indicated victim, regardless of how often he was reported during the year. This is a change from previous submissions, which contained unduplicated data. (Items 4.2-4.5)
Perpetrators
"Perpetrators" includes caretakers found to be responsible for
abuse/neglect in reports closed during the year. Figures are
duplicated; each caretaker is counted for each victim, for each
report in which that caretaker-victim pair occurs. Numbers may
include relationships in which the caretaker did not maltreat the
specific victim, but another victim or other victims in the same
report. "Child Day Care Providers" includes only babysitters. Day
care staff are included in "Residential Facility Staff." Florida's
relatively low perpetrator/victim ratio may be the result of a
victim's being substantiated without necessarily identifying a
perpetrator. That is, substantiation may be based on "some credible
evidence," but the naming of a perpetrator (as opposed to an
alleged perpetrator) depends on a "preponderance of evidence."
(Item 6.1)
Fatalities
Fatalities in reports closed during the year, including victims
whose dates of death may have been in a prior year, are counted.
Only verified abuse/neglect deaths are counted. The finding was
verified when a preponderance of the credible evidence resulted in
a determination that death was the result of abuse or neglect.
(Item 5.1)
"Foster Care Fatalities" includes out-of-home placement during a prior investigation and placement with a relative not licensed or paid as foster care, as well as licensed foster care. (Item 5.2)
"Family Preservation Services" includes Intensive Crisis Counseling, Family Builders, Voluntary Family Services, Protective Supervision, Substitute Care, Post-Placement Supervision, adoption services, and other services recorded in the automated records, but may not include all Family Preservation Services. (Item 5.3)
"Reunification" includes children returned home after an out-of-home placement during a prior investigation (placement was discontinued after investigation). It also includes reunification with a parent/guardian after placement with a relative not licensed or paid as foster care. (Item 5.4)
Services
"Preventive Services" includes, but is not limited to, after-school
enrichment/recreation, child care/therapeutic care, community
facilitation, community mapping/development, counseling/mentoring
services, crisis and intervention services, delinquency prevention,
developmental screening/evaluation, domestic violence services,
family resource or visitation center/full-service schools, Healthy
Families America, Healthy Start, home visiting/in-home parent
education/parent support, information and referral, parenting
education and training, prenatal/perinatal services, Project Safety
Net, respite care/crisis nursery, self-help groups/support groups,
and teen parent/pregnancy program. Information and referral
accounted for 2,744 of the children and 11,329 of the families
identified as receiving preventive services. By statute, "families"
may include biological, adoptive, and foster families; relative
caregivers; guardians; and extended families. A single adult 18
years old or older living alone may be counted as one family. If a
child does not have a family (because of abandonment, termination
of parents' rights, institutional care, or other factors), he is
counted as one family.
Numbers reported under "Preventive Services" include families who received services (carryover and new) in the reporting period and children in the families who received services, without regard to funding sources. If a parent received services (e.g., parent education and training) all children in the family were identified as children served. Children could not be served without the family's being served. For example, if a child attended an after-school tutoring program, one child and one family were served. When one of the children in the family received a direct service but the parent did not, siblings were not counted as receiving a service. However, the family was counted.
Preventive services exclude public awareness campaigns. July through December data are estimated. The numbers may be low because of incomplete reporting. (Item 1.1)
"Services" includes children who received, or continued to receive, services after the investigation and children who received out-of-home placement services (in a shelter or with a relative) during the investigation. (Item 3.3)
"Removed From Home" is based on "interim placement" and includes children placed out-of-home (in a shelter or with a relative) during the course of the investigation. (Item 3.5)
"Family Preservation Services" includes Intensive Crisis Counseling, Family Builders (included starting July 1997), Voluntary Family Services, Protective Supervision, Substitute Care, Post-Placement Supervision, and Adoption Services. All family preservation services may not be included. A family identification number was used to determine whether or not any other member of the child's family had received such services, as well as to track history for the child in question. A child was counted for each report in which he was a victim. (Item 4.6)
"Reunification" includes reunification with parents, legal guardians, and other relatives following foster care. It does not include children returned home after an out-of-home placement resulting from a prior investigation, when that placement was discontinued after investigation. Nor does it include reunification with a parent/guardian after placement with a relative not licensed or paid as foster care. A child was counted for each report in which he was a victim. (Item 4.7)
"Court Action" includes children judicially involved through a shelter hearing and/or a dispositional hearing. (Item 4.8)
Because service provision may start for different children on different dates, the average for "Response Time to Services" is based on children, not reports. The number includes each child for each report in which the child was an alleged victim and received some post-investigative service. All dispositions were included except "dismissed," "custody relative-no protective services," "custody non-relative-no protective services," "other judicial," "unable to locate," "moved after contact," "no services needed," "closed after assessment," and "services offered but rejected." The number of days was calculated for each child from the receipt of the report alleging maltreatment of the child to the court hearing ordering services or continued services, or to the voluntary agreement to services or continued services. This calculation did not include services provided during the course of investigation, such as emergency removal, continued ongoing services, or early service intervention (in which an ongoing service worker is involved in a case during investigation in anticipation of services to be provided after the investigation). (Item 7.4)
GEORGIA
Rebecca Jarvis
Service Coordinator, Protective Services Unit
Division of Family and Children Services
Georgia Department of Human Resources
2 Peachtree Street NW, Room 18.243
Atlanta, GA 30303-3142
404-657-3414
404-657-3486 Fax
rejarvis@dhr.state.ga.us
Reports
Screened-out referrals were those that did not contain the
components of a CPS report. These components are a child less than
18 years of age, a known or unknown individual reported to be a
perpetrator, and a report of conditions indicating child
maltreatment. Situations in which no allegations of maltreatment
were included in the report and situations in which local or county
protocols did not require a response were screened out. Such
situations could have included historical incidents, custody
issues, poverty issues, educational neglect/truancy issues, reports
from a reporter who had reported three previously unfounded
reports, situations involving an unborn child, or juvenile
delinquency issues. For many of these reports, referrals were made
to other resources. "Other" report source includes other
nonmandated reporters and religious leaders or staff. (Item
2.1)
Cases assigned for investigation after December 1, 1999, may not have had dispositions available until January 2000. All cases reported in 1999 with dispositions completed by the end of January 2000 and with disposition data entered into the system were counted. (Item 2.3)
CPS staff in larger counties devote full time to CPS functions. In smaller counties, staff responsible for these functions may also be responsible for all social service functions. The numbers are based on a workload study conducted in Georgia by the Children's Research Center (CRC). The number of CPS positions filled in Georgia was 777 (91.6 percent of 848 allotted positions). This number was multiplied by the percentages of requested functions as captured on the workload study to determine the number of FTE's responsible for the screening, intake, investigation, and assessment of reports. CRC data used to derive the FTE of 287.49 were based on the study month of August 16, 1998, to September 15, 1998. Six percent of time was used for intake and screening; 31 percent of time was used for investigation and assessment. Thus, the FTE responsible for screening, intake, investigation, and assessment of reports during the year was 37 percent of the 777 positions filled for most of 1999. Georgia's staffing allotment for CPS did not change for the first half of 1999. Staff who filled additional positions were not identified, trained, and added to the work force until much later in the year. (Items 7.1-7.2)
Victims
The count of children is duplicated, based on the number of
incidents. One report or investigation may include a number of
reported incidents on one or more children. In addition, there may
be more than one incident reported for a child. Thus, these items
are duplicated counts. (Items 3.1 and 3.2)
Perpetrators
The difference between the number of perpetrators and the number of
victims is due to counting the perpetrators based on a person
count; a perpetrator may be responsible for more than one incident
of maltreatment. (Item 6.1)
Fatalities
"Child Fatalities" is based on the Georgia Child Abuse and Neglect
Report, which is filled out at the completion of an investigation.
(Item 5.1)
Services
The reported numbers of families and children who received
preventive services increased in 1999. As agencies have become
aware of this reporting need, they have made an effort to provide
numbers more reflective of services provided. Other agencies are
attempting to obtain figures for future reporting. Information for
this report came from the Georgia Council on Child Abuse (GCCA) and
the Children's Trust Fund of Georgia, both of which funnel State
and Federal moneys into local preventive efforts. Preventive
programs reported by these organizations included First Step
programs, Second Step programs, Healthy Families Georgia, Fathers
of Young Children, Positive Fathering, Building Young Families, and
others. (Item 1.1)
The State maintains data on services through counts on cases, not children. Thus, estimates have been provided here to provide data on services for the same units as data on dispositions. (Items 3.3 and 3.4)
The current source can provide only data for removals that occurred up to the time an investigation decision was made (policy requires that the investigation be completed within 30 days of the report's being received). Data on removals occurring after the decision, or within 90 days of the decision, were unavailable. (Item 3.5)
"Court Action" refers to the number of children served by Georgia Court-Appointed Special Advocates (CASA). (Item 4.8)
The Child Placement Project Study (a project of the Georgia Supreme Court) provided the number of "Child Victims Who Received Court-Appointed Representatives" and is eager to find a way to provide more data on court-appointed guardians ad litem. (Item 4.9)
HAWAII
Keith Nagai
Research Statistician
Hawaii Department of Human Services
1390 Miller Street, Room 210
Honolulu, HI 96813
808-586-5111
808-586-4810 Fax
knagai@dhs.state.hi.us
Reports
There may be more than one type of report source per report. (Item
2.2)
Perpetrators
There may be more than one perpetrator per child victim. (Item
6.1)
IDAHO
Jeri Bala
Program Systems Specialist, Automated
Division of Family and Community Services
Idaho Department of Health and Welfare
450 West State Street, 3rd Floor
Boise, ID 83720
208-332-7227
208-334-6699 Fax
balaj@idhw.state.id.us
General
During the reporting period, Idaho was in the process of
implementing a new SACWIS system. Because it was implemented
gradually across the regions of the State, the data for this report
came from both the legacy system, the Family Centered Services
Information System (FCSIS), and the new system, the Family-Oriented
Community User System (FOCUS). While FOCUS has dramatically
increased Idaho's ability to record more accurate information on
child protection, there has been a lengthy period of staff
adjustment and learning.
Reports
Data on CPS staff are from the Human Resources Division of the
Department of Health and Welfare. (Item 7.1)
Data on "Intake and Screening Staff" were gathered from a survey of regional program managers. Some regional staff conduct intake and case management, while some only conduct intake activities. (Item 7.2)
The analysis of "Response Time to Investigation" excluded reports in which the contact or response time was left blank. Breakdowns were as follows: response time to the 501 reports in "priority 1" averaged 46 hours; response time to the 628 reports in "priority 2" averaged 78 hours; response time to the 994 reports in "priority 3" averaged 126 hours; and the response time to the 49 reports of "unknown priority" averaged 293 hours. (Item 7.3)
Fatalities
Child fatality data were based on manual counts and counts from
FOCUS. (Items 5.1-5.4)
Services
Data on preventive services are from FCSIS and FOCUS, as well as
other sources. Services from the Family Preservation School
Program, covering 1,017 families; Building Stronger Families,
covering 700 families; Independent Living, covering 133 children;
and the Trust Fund, covering 4,037 families and 2,927 children are
included. (Item 1.1)
Previous service history data were difficult to obtain when a child was not linked to both FCSIS and FOCUS. (Items 4.6 and 4.7)
"Court Action" counts court records if they were filed within 30 days of report start date. (Item 4.8)
"Response Time to Services" is based on the following: children in the 388 reports in "priority 1" received services in an average of 7 days; the children in the 208 reports in "priority 2" received services in an average of 13 days; the children in the 320 reports in "priority 3" received services in an average of 18 days; the children in the 222 reports with "unknown priority" received services in an average of 6 days. CPS investigations and assessment processes were not counted as services. (Item 7.4)
ILLINOIS
Carl L. Sciarini
Manager, Office of Quality Assurance
Illinois Department of Children and Family Services
406 East Monroe Street, Station 222
Springfield, IL 62701-1498
217-524-2035
217-524-2101 Fax
csciarini@idcfs.state.il.us
Reports
The State received more than 300,000 calls to the statewide child
abuse hotline. However, many of the calls were either requests for
information or "hang-ups," when callers did not reach a hotline
worker on the first attempt. Because the calls are automatically
counted by an electronic system, and the information and hang-up
calls are included in this number, many of these calls would not be
defined appropriately as "screened out." A screened-out call would
be a call from someone reporting a case of child abuse that did not
meet the criteria for child abuse (e.g., the perpetrator was not a
caretaker). Such calls are not tracked separately, so the actual
number of screened-out calls cannot be provided. (Item 2.1)
"Medical Personnel" includes mental health personnel. "Other" includes substitute care providers and alleged perpetrators. (Item 2.2)
"Other Dispositions" includes investigations still pending on March 31, 2000. (Item 2.3)
The "Response Time to Investigation" is based on the average between the time when a report is taken at the hotline and the time an investigator makes the first contact. The response time is determined both by priority standard and by apparent risk to the alleged victim. The priority standard, which mandates a particular response time by law, is related to the type of child abuse/neglect allegation and the investigative activities required for each priority. For example, an allegation of sexual abuse is considered a "priority 1" allegation, an allegation of lack of supervision is considered a "priority 2" allegation, and an allegation of inadequate housing is considered a "priority 3" allegation. The response time related to initiating a report of suspected abuse/neglect is mandated by law for a given priority standard (e.g., within 24 hours) or by the apparent risk to the alleged victim(s). For example, an immediate response is required if the victim is alleged to be in immediate danger. Thus, response time is not determined only by the priority of the investigation. (Item 7.3)
Victims
"Other Dispositions" includes investigations still pending on March
31, 2000. (Item 3.2)
Counts of maltreatment type are duplicated for those children who were subjects of more than one incident of substantiated abuse. (Item 4.1)
"Asian" includes Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders. (Item 4.5)
Perpetrators
Each perpetrator was counted only once for each type of
relationship he had to a victim, regardless of how many victims
were involved. For example, if a mother had abused three biological
children and three nephews, she would be counted twice as a
perpetrator. (Item 6.1)
Fatalities
The one death in foster care was in an institutional setting. (Item
5.2)
Services
The number of families receiving preventive services was estimated
by adding the total number of "intact family cases" opened during
the year, the number of families receiving "family support
services," and the number of families receiving "extended family
support services." ("Intact" means that none of the children were
removed and placed in substitute care). The number of children
receiving preventive services was estimated by multiplying the
number of families receiving services (3,685) by 2.62, the average
number of children in a DCFS family case. The range of services
included prevention and support services, protective services,
crisis intervention services, time-limited family reunification
services, and adoption promotion and support services. (Item
1.1)
INDIANA
Sandy Lock
Program Manager, SACWIS
Division of Family and Children
Indiana Family Social Services Administration
132 East Washington Street
Indianapolis, IN 46204
317-234-0691
317-234-0687 Fax
slock@fssa.state.in.us
Reports
The State reported the following proportions of report sources:
"Social Services Personnel," 7 percent; "Medical Personnel," 12
percent; "Mental Health Personnel," 4 percent; "Legal, Law
Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Personnel," 21 percent;
"Education Personnel," 21 percent; "Child Day Care Providers," 1
percent; "Substitute Care Providers," 1 percent; "Alleged Victims,"
1 percent; "Parents," 9 percent; "Other Relatives," 7 percent;
"Friends and Neighbors," 6 percent; "Alleged Perpetrators," less
than 1 percent; "Anonymous or Unknown Reporters," 5 percent; and
"Other," 5 percent. (Item 2.2)
The number of investigations is less than the number of reports referred for investigation because one investigation may cover more than one report. (Item 2.3)
IOWA
Tony Montoya
Program Manager, Child Protective Services
Division of Adult, Children, and Family Services
1305 Walnut St.
Des Moines, IA 50319-0114
515-281-8726
515-242-6884 Fax
amontoy@dhs.state.ia.us
Reports
Referrals are not accepted for assessment if they do not meet the
criteria for assessment or have been previously assessed. (Item
2.1)
"Other" report sources includes other relatives, friends, and neighbors. (Item 2.2)
There were 172 staff who conducted assessments. There were approximately 170 additional staff who served as intake staff, including supervisory staff and ongoing social casework staff. (Items 7.1 and 7.2)
Fatalities
Abuse was a contributing factor in three deaths. (Item 5.1)
Services
"Preventive Services" includes information from the Department of
Health, which manages a variety of home programs promoting healthy,
safe parenting. These include the specially funded HOPES program-a
home visitation program-and the reports made by Prevent Child Abuse
Iowa (PCAI). PCAI funds prevention programs that range from home
visitation to sexual abuse prevention. The child number is from
PCAI and the family number is from the Department of Health. (Item
1.1)
"Services" indicates children who had services opened within 90 days of the assessment. (Item 3.3)
"Foster Care" indicates children who entered foster care within 90 days of the assessment. (Item 3.5)
"Court Action" includes child victims who had petitions filed regarding them during the course of the assessment or within 90 days after the completion of the assessment. (Item 4.8)
State law requires that every child who appears in juvenile court have a guardian ad litem. (Item 4.9)
KANSAS
Robert Byers
Program Administrator, Children and Family Policy
Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitative Services
915 SW Harrison Avenue
Topeka, KS 66612-1570
785-291-3665
785-368-8149 Fax
rab@srskansas.org
Reports
Workers are required to respond to a report on the same day it is
received. It is estimated that the average response time was 4
hours. (Item 7.3)
KENTUCKY
Denis E. Hommrich
Child Protection Specialist
Department for Social Services
Kentucky Cabinet for Families and Children
908 West Broadway, 4E
Louisville, KY 40203
502-595-5492
502-595-4789 Fax
denis.hommrich@mail.state.ky.us
Reports
"Social Services Personnel" includes mental health personnel.
"Child Day Care Providers" includes substitute care providers.
(Item 2.2)
Victims
"Neglect" includes medical neglect. (Item 4.1)
LOUISIANA
Walter G. Fahr
Program Manager, Child Protective Services
Office of Community Services
Louisiana Department of Social Services
P.O. Box 3318
Baton Rouge, LA 70821
225-342-6832
225-342-9087 Fax
fswalter@ocs.dss.state.la.us
Reports
Mental health personnel were counted as either "Social Services
Personnel" or "Medical Personnel." It is believed that the majority
of report sources categorized as "Other" were neighbors. (Item
2.2)
"Closed Without a Finding" includes "unable to locate" (588) and "client noncooperation" (216). "Other Dispositions" includes terminated day care investigations (18) and perpetrators not covered by State law (4). (Item 2.3)
Victims
"Other" includes child fatalities and non-involved persons
responsible for the child's care. (Item 4.1)
Perpetrators
Perpetrators are associated with substantiated reports. (Item
6.1)
Fatalities
Twelve fatality investigations are still pending for 1999. (Item
5.1)
Services
"Preventive Services" includes the following programs: Children's
Trust Fund Life Skills and Safety (112,445 children); Children's
Trust Fund Parent Education and Support (23,046 parents);
Children's Trust Fund Family Hospital/Home Visits (2,330 families);
Office of Community Services Family Support Services, title IV-B,
part 2 (7,688 children); Office of Community Services Family
Preservation Services (741 children); Office of Community Services
Protective Day Care (1658 children); Children's Hospital Lagniappe
Program HIV-Substance Abuse Intervention (118 children, 39
families); Office of Public Health, Maternal and Child Health, Home
Visitation-Healthy Families (621 families); Prevent Child Abuse LA
Parent Helpline (1,400 parents); Prevent Child Abuse LA Nurturing
Program (115 children, 300 families); Prevent Child Abuse LA Parent
Education (502 parents); and Prevent Child Abuse LA First Steps
Primary Prevention (home visitation of new parents (3,100 parents).
(Item 1.1)
The number of children with substantiated maltreatment who received services was based on 2,653 new Family Service cases and 84 new Families in Need of Services (FINS) cases. These cases had an average of 1.7 children per case (a total of 4,653 children). An additional 2,389 children, for whom there were an additional 1,536 substantiated allegations of maltreatment, entered foster care. Thus, a total of 8,578 child victims (duplicated count) or 68 percent of all child victims received services. (Item 3.3)
Thirty-two percent of substantiated cases (4,036 children) were closed at investigation, with no further services provided. There are insufficient data to determine how many children in unsubstantiated cases were provided services beyond investigation. Therefore, it is assumed that no children in unsubstantiated cases received services. (Item 3.4)
More than 500 (501) children were assigned to Court-Appointed Special Advocates (CASA's) and of these, 335 children had their cases closed. There were 537 CASA's. (Item 4.9)
"CPS Staff" is based on the budget allocation for first line workers and their supervisors. The method used to determine the number of FTE's performing particular types of work was a random moment sample conducted by the Department of Social Services (in accordance with its federally approved Cost Allocation Plan). This sample measured the time ascribed by the professional staff at the local level to designated activities in each service area. (Item 7.1)
In 80 percent of all investigations, the alleged victim was seen within the State's mandated response time (24 hours, 3 calendar days, or 10 working days, depending on the nature of the report). This proportion was based on a sample of 2,114 investigations. (Item 7.3)
MAINE
Robert Pronovost
Supervisor, Child Protection Intake
Bureau of Child and Family Services
Maine Department of Human Services
State House, Station 11
Augusta, ME 04333
207-287-2978
207-287-5065 Fax
robert.n.pronovost@state.me.us
Reports
Of the 11,058 referrals not assigned for investigation, 1,312 were
considered appropriate for CPS but were not assigned for
investigation because of a shortage of available CPS staff. More
than 3,000 (3,002) of these referrals were allocated to private
agencies to conduct assessments. These agencies do not make a
determination regarding substantiation and do not provide
information to the SACWIS. The remaining 6,744 screened-out
referrals did not contain allegations of child abuse or neglect
involving a responsible caretaker and, thus, were deemed
inappropriate for CPS investigation or assessment. (Item 2.1)
"Screening and Intake Staff" includes the full-time staff of the Central Child Protection Intake Unit and a proportion of field staff in the eight district offices performing intake and screening functions. (item 7.2)
Victims
"Children Subject of an Investigation" includes 8,024 children
identified as alleged victims on the assessment record. The
remainder were either "undetermined" or "not involved." (Item
3.1)
Fatalities
Two children died from abuse; one child died from neglect. (Item
5.1)
Services
Nine private agencies under contract with the Bureau of Child and
Family Services provide prevention services as community
intervention programs in all 16 Maine counties. Families referred
to these agencies are at high risk of child abuse and neglect.
(Item 1.1)
MARYLAND
Stephen K. Berry
Manager, In-Home Services
Social Services Administration
Maryland Department of Human Resources
311 West Saratoga Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
410-767-7112
410-333-0127 Fax
sberry@dhr.state.md.us
Reports
"CPS Staff" reflects the number of full-time equivalent positions
allotted for CPS in 1999. The State office does not designate
screening, investigations, or continuing service tasks for these
positions. Local departments determine use based on their needs.
(Item 7.1)
Fatalities
There were approximately 950 child deaths in Maryland in 1999. The
Department of Human Resources reviewed 110 of these deaths and
determined that child abuse or neglect was a contributing factor in
36 of them. (Item 5.1)
Services
"Preventive Services" is an estimate of the number of families who
received services, such as continuing CPS, Intensive Family
Services, or Families Now. Each family could have received any
number of additional support services (e.g., addiction counseling,
counseling, day care, and crisis intervention). The State's data
collection system does not track preventive services provided by
community service agencies outside the DSS system. (Item 1.1)
"Removed From Home" reflects only those children who were removed from the home and placed in foster care. These children were not tracked by disposition. Children could also have been removed from the home and placed in kinship care, or could have been placed voluntarily out of the home by the family, without court involvement. (Item 3.5)
MASSACHUSETTS
Tony Felix
Data analyst
Office of Management, Planning and Analysis
Massachusetts Department of Social Services
24 Farnsworth Street
Boston, MA 02210
617-748-2356
617-261-7438 Fax
tfelix@state.ma.us
General
The Department of Social Services' SACWIS (FamilyNet) was
implemented in February 1998 and is still in the developmental
stage. Statistics were unavailable for many items because the
required programming was not completed.
Reports
Numbers of children with substantiated and unsubstantiated
dispositions are estimated. (Item 3.2) "CPS Staff" data are from
June 30, 1999. While there are slight fluctuations in staffing
levels for these functions, a point-in-time snapshot gives a fairly
accurate estimate for staffing levels throughout the year. The
full-time equivalent number includes 88 social workers who were
assigned to the screening function and performed screenings during
the month of June 1999. An additional estimated 140 social workers
performed occasional screenings as needed (approximately one to
three screenings per month) but were not assigned to this function.
These social workers were not included in this count. In addition
to the screeners, 240 full-time equivalent social workers who were
assigned to intake/investigation units and who completed
investigations in the month of June 1999 were included. (Items 7.1
and 7.2)
MICHIGAN
Danielle Mallon
Children's Protective Services Analyst
Office of Child and Family Services
Michigan Family Independence Agency
Grand Tower, Suite 510
235 South Grand Avenue
Lansing, MI 48909-0037
517-241-7219
517-241-7407 Fax
mallond@state.mi.us
Reports
"CPS Staff" is the number of staff allocated in the fiscal year
budget. (Item 7.1)
"Intake and Screening Staff" is based on a January through June 1999 study that showed that 7.3 percent of the FTE's time was spent on intake. (Item 7.3)
Victims
Perinatal exposure to drugs is included in "Physical Abuse." (Item
4.1)
Services
The estimate of children receiving services by disposition is based
on applying the percentage of substantiated family cases that
received services (81%) to the number of children who were found to
be victims. (Item 3.3)
"No Services" includes victims and non-victims in substantiated cases who did not receive services, as well as all the children in unsubstantiated cases who did not receive services. (Item 3.4)
The estimate of children who were removed from their homes is based on the 93 percent of the cases that had removal data. Of the 703 cases missing data, one-third was assumed to have involved removals, and it was further assumed that there were 2.2 children per case. (Item 3.5)
"Court Action" is calculated by multiplying the number of cases with court action by the average number of children in substantiated cases. (Item 4.8)
Juvenile court law requires that virtually all victims have a court-appointed representative. (Item 4.9)
MINNESOTA
Jean Swanson-Broberg
Systems Analysis Unit Supervisor
Minnesota Department of Human Services
444 Lafayette Road
St. Paul, MN 55155-3862
(651) 772-3765
(651) 772-3794 Fax
jean.swanson-broberg@state.mn.us
General
Minnesota implemented a new information system in 1999. The data in
this report have been aggregated from the legacy system and the new
system.
Reports
One investigation may have more than one reporting source. (Item
2.2)
Services
"Preventive Services" includes the following programs: Crisis
Nurseries (3,216 children, 1,665 families), Maternal/Child Health
programs (127 children, 66 families), and Family Support Network
(1,523 children, 1,338 families). (Item 1.1)
Families may have refused services offered. No follow-up on actual services provided in the 90-day time frame was submitted to the State from the counties. (Item 3.3)
Some of children counted as not having received services may have received services at a later date. (Item 3.4)
MISSISSIPPI
Robin E. Wilson
Program Manager
Division of Family and Children's Services
Mississippi Department of Human Services
750 North State Street
P.O. Box 352
Jackson, MS 39205
601-359-4016
601-359-4978 Fax
rwilson@mdhs.state.ms.us
Reports
"Medical Personnel" includes mental health personnel. (Item
2.2)
Victims
The estimated number of children was calculated by multiplying the
number of reports by the national average of 1.6 children per
investigation. (Item 3.1)
"Neglect or Deprivation of Necessities" includes medical neglect. "Other" includes exploited children and children both abused and neglected and exploited. (Item 4.1)
Services
"Preventive Services" includes the following programs: Children's
Trust Fund, Basic State Grant, Family Preservation Program,
Children's Justice Act, Family Support Services, Community-Based
Grant, and Social Services Block Grant. (Item 1.1)
MISSOURI
Lesley Pettit
Management Analyst Specialist II
Division of Family Services
Missouri Department of Social Services
P.O. Box 88
Jefferson City, MO 65103
573-751-9604
573-526-3971 Fax
lpetti01@mail.state.mo.us
Reports
Missouri has a Child Protective Systems Reform Demonstration
Project that began in 1995 in several counties. Under the Reform
Project, in addition to the dispositions of "substantiated" and
"not substantiated," are three Family Assessment outcomes:
|
Services Needed-the family is in need of services that may be provided by opening a family-centered service case or by a community resource or support system (coded in this report as "In Need of Services"); |
|
|
Services Not Needed-The family is not in need of services. This may be due to home schooling, out-of-State location, inappropriate reporting, or an inability to locate the family (coded in this report as "Other"); and, |
|
|
Noncooperative/Child Safe-The family refuses to cooperate, and the worker has been able to document that the child is safe and that there is no serious risk of abuse/neglect (coded in this report as "Other"). |
"Other" includes the "Services Not Needed" (16,015); the "Noncooperative/Child Safe" (1,143); and "Home Schooling" (71) dispositions. (Item 2.3)
Staff responsibilities include performing investigations and working with intake families, foster care, adoption, and family preservation. Most of these workers, especially in rural areas, are generalists, they do some CPS screening, intake, investigation, and assessment. (Item 7.1)
"Screening and Intake Staff" does not include hourly employees or supervisory staff. (Item 7.2)
Victims
"Other" includes the "Services Not Needed" (25,685); the "Family
Noncooperative/Child Safe" (1,802); and "Home Schooling" (104)
dispositions. See above for further information.(Item 3.2)
"Other" types of maltreatment includes educational neglect. (Item 4.1)
Services
In counting children who did or did not receive services, "Unknown"
and "Other" are reported under "Unknown." (Items 3.3-3.5)
MONTANA
Gail Clifford
Administrative Officer
Child and Family Services Division
Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services
P.O. Box 8005
Helena, MT 59604-8005
406-444-2584
406-444-5956 Fax
gclifford@state.mt.us
Reports
A State statute mandates that all reports indicating reasonable
cause to suspect that a child is abused or neglected are to be
investigated. (Item 2.1)
"CPS Staff" includes caseworkers, licensing workers, permanency workers, supervisors, and administrative support staff. Workers in the many small rural offices perform all functions: screening, intake, investigation, and assessment; therefore, it is not possible to provide the number of FTE's who perform only screening and intake. (Items 7.1-7.2)
Victims
"Other" dispositions includes "insufficient information to warrant
an investigation" and "unfounded." (Item 3.2)
Services
State and Federal (IV-B) funds were used for the programs providing
preventive services. Counts are unduplicated for the State fiscal
year 1999. (Item 1.1)
NEBRASKA
Lynn Stone
Program Analyst/Lead
Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services
301 Centennial Mall South
Lincoln, NE 68509-5026
402-471-9239
lynn.stone@hhss.state.ne.us
Reports
Estimates of case characteristics and dispositions for 5,270
reports were made based on a review of whether these reports were
investigated and the data from 6,149 reports for which
characteristic and disposition data were available.
Victims
"Other" race includes Hispanics. (Item 4.5)
NEVADA
Marjorie L. Walker
Social Welfare Programs Specialist
Division of Child and Family Services
Nevada Department of Human Resources
711 East Fifth Street, Capitol Complex
Carson City, NV 89701-5092
775-684-4422
775-684-4456 Fax
mwalker@govmail.state.nv.us
Reports
"Substitute Care Providers" includes child day care providers.
(Item 2.2)
Types of workers include intake/assessment staff, investigators, and caseworkers. (Items 7.1 and 7.2)
Victims
The number of children for whom allegations or risk of maltreatment
were not substantiated is an estimate. (Item 3.2)
"Other" types of maltreatment includes lack of supervision (1,460); educational neglect (202); abandonment (174); other (2,662); and fatal (9). (Item 4.1)
Counts of victims by children, sex, race, and Hispanic ethnicity are estimated. Nevada reported data for these categories on fewer children than were reported as victims. The proportions reflected in Nevada's data on child characteristics were applied to the total number of victims in order to obtain the estimates. (Items 4.2-4.5)
Perpetrators
"Institutional Staff" includes residential facility staff and child
day care providers. "Child Day Care Providers" includes only baby
sitters. (Item 6.1)
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Bernard W. Bluhm
Assistant Administrator for Child Protection
Division of Children, Youth and Families
New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services
129 Pleasant Street, State Office Park South
Concord, NH 03301-3857
603-271-4440
603-271-4729 Fax
bbluhm@dhhs.state.nh.us
Reports
The number of reports not referred for CPS assessment is estimated.
(Item 2.1)
Not all information concerning 1999 investigation outcomes was available. Two recent State Supreme Court cases may affect the number of substantiated investigations. These cases established that non-accidental injuries (e.g., bruises) to a child may not by themselves result in a substantiated determination of physical abuse since they would not by their own accord indicate that the child was "harmed" or that the responsible parent was "abusive." (Item 2.3)
New Hampshire has a centralized intake system with allocated staffing of 10 full-time workers and 2 supervisors. (Item 7.2)
Fatalities
The number of child fatalities was obtained from the State's chief
medical examiner and represents only those children autopsied in
the State during the reporting period. (Item 5.0)
Services
Preventive service recipients received services under title IX
(Maternal and Child Health) and title XX (Preventive Day Care)
programs. Preventive services for families were contracted through
provider agencies. Family numbers were estimated from the number of
families involved with Family Resource Centers and Family Resource
and Support programs. These programs were funded through the Social
Services Block Grant, CAPTA, and title IV-B, part 2. (Item 1.1)
By law, each child victim receives a court-appointed guardian ad litem. Court-Appointed Special Advocates (CASA-s) handled 65 percent of these appointments. (Item 4.9)
CASA volunteers have appointments with victims on a monthly basis. (Item 4.10)
NEW JERSEY
Art Hull
Assistant Administrator
Office of Information Services
Division of Youth & Family Services
New Jersey Department of Human Services
50 East State Street, 5th Floor
Trenton, NJ 08625-0717
609-292-9175
609-292-8196 Fax
ahull@dhs.state.nj.us
Reports
"Screened-in" includes families that may not have issues of child
abuse or neglect. In 1994, DYFS began an initiative that has as a
core element a more careful classification of incoming referrals,
as either child abuse and neglect or a family problem. The families
classified as having family problems are not believed to have
committed child abuse or neglect according to New Jersey statute.
The types of situations that may lead to such a classification
include homelessness; domestic violence; unresolved, child-related
medical, emotional, or substance abuse problems; children with
disabilities needing assistance; problems that affect the ability
of parents to provide basic care for their children; and cases in
which parents lack the skills to parent adequately. (Item 2.1)
"Other" includes the classification of "Family Problem at Risk." (Item 2.3)
All caseload-carrying workers, excluding Adoption Resource Center staff, are included; they may be assigned to a district office, institutional abuse investigation unit, or the Office of Child Abuse Control. (Item 7.1)
Victims
"Other" includes the classification of "Family Problem at Risk."
(Item 3.2)
"Family Problem at Risk" children are not included in the counts on service outcomes because information about whether children did or did not receive services, or were removed as the result of a referral, is recorded only for investigations of abuse/neglect and not for assessments of children at risk. Thus, such outcomes are not known for the 34,440 "Family Problem at Risk" referrals. (Items 3.3-3.4)
"Unknown sex" includes unborn children. (Item 4.3)
Services
The population receiving preventive services includes clients who
may or may not be under the supervision of the Division of Youth
and Family Services (DYFS). These services are intended (1) to
prevent or reduce abuse, neglect, exploitation, or the need for
substitute care, or (2) to enable the achievement or maintenance of
a permanent home and/or self-sufficiency. Services include
companionship, group counseling, life-skills training, self-help
support, and respite care. They reflect only contracted services
purchased by the division. (Item 1.1)
Removals reported for children with unsubstantiated dispositions were emergency removals and took place before the investigation was completed. (Item 3.5)
NEW MEXICO
Kathy Heidel
Manager V
Protective Services Division
New Mexico Department of Children, Youth and Families
P.O. Drawer 5160, Room 252
Santa Fe, NM 87502-5160
505-827-8474
505-827-8480 Fax
kvheidel@cyfd.state.nm.us
Reports
The number of CPS workers includes 37 intake workers of whom 7 were
supervisors; 301 investigation and treatment workers of whom 58
were supervisors; 71 placement/adoption workers of whom 13 were
supervisors; and 4 independent living. Workers who provide
placement and independent living services also provide some child
abuse and neglect assessments as part of their jobs. These numbers
are from a State report, "Breakdown of Social Workers by County
& Service Type." (Item 7.1)
Services
Preventive Services delivered prior to the reporting of
abuse/neglect to the department are not known. Preventive services
were provided to children by the Children's Trust Fund, Families in
Need of Supervision, the Child Abuse and Neglect Grant, and the
American Service Corporation. (Item 1.1)
NEW YORK
Donna Keys
Director
Bureau of Management Information
New York State Office of Children and Family Services
Riverview Center, 6th Floor (12204)
40 North Pearl Street, 8C
Albany, NY 12243
518-474-6791
518-473-8205 Fax
sv0050@dfa.state.ny.us
Services
The number of recipients of preventive services includes persons
who may have received services under more than one funding source.
Children who received services include 91,974 children who received
services through title IV-B Mandated Preventive Services; 4,812
children who received services through the Community-Based Family
Resource Program; 2,641 children who received services through the
Home Visiting Program; and 442 children who received Crisis Nursery
services. Families received services from the Community-Based
Family Resource Program (4,763); the Home Visiting Program (2,987);
and the Crisis Nursery (295). (Item 1.1)
NORTH CAROLINA
Jo Ann Lamm, M.S.W.
Team Leader, Policy and Planning
Child Protective Services Branch
Division of Social Services
North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
325 North Salisbury Street
Raleigh, NC 27603
919-733-3360
919-715-6714 Fax
joann.lamm@ncmail.net
Reports
Reasons that reports may not be referred for investigative
assessment include (1) the problem described, if true, does not
meet any of the statutory definitions; (2) the individual is not a
juvenile under statutory definitions; and (3) the allegation in no
way suggests that the action or inaction of a parent or caretaker
resulted in harm to the child. (Item 2.1)
Legislation, effective in 1997, requires that when a report is made alleging abuse, neglect, or dependency with regard to any child in a family, all minors living in the home must be treated as alleged victims. These data include duplicated victims. (Item 2.3)
Victims
"Other" types of maltreatment include dependency and encouraging,
directing, or approving delinquent acts involving moral turpitude
committed by a juvenile. (Item 4.1)
Fatalities
Data on fatalities are provided by the Office of the Chief Medical
Examiner and include only deaths determined to be caused by abuse.
(Items 5.1 and 5.2)
Services
"Preventive Services" includes the following programs: Family
Preservation Services, Intensive Family Preservation Services, and
Family Support Services. (Item 1.1)
"Family Preservation Services" includes only those victims for whom the services had been provided by a county social service department. (Item 4.6)
Data on Child Victims with "Court-Appointed Representatives" are provided by the North Carolina guardian ad litem organization. (Item 4.9)
NORTH DAKOTA
Gladys Cairns
Administrator, Child Protection Services
Children and Family Services Division
Department of Human Services
600 East Boulevard
Bismarck, ND 58501
701-328-4806
701-328-3538 Fax
socaig@state.nd.us
General
The child neglect and abuse law was amended in 1995. The
legislation takes North Dakota from an incident-based investigation
method to a service method, in which assessments are made of child
safety and future risk of harm. The emphasis is put on what
services are available to ameliorate any future risk. This approach
focuses on identifying and building on the family's capacities and
strengths.
The text of the North Dakota statute, in part, states:
| "An assessment is a fact-finding process designed to provide
information that enables a determination to be made that services
are required to provide for the protection and treatment of an
abused or neglected child. The Department of Human Services (DHS)
immediately shall initiate an assessment or cause an assessment of
any report of child abuse or neglect including, when appropriate,
the assessment of the home or residence of the child, any school or
child care facility attended by the child, and the circumstances
surrounding the report of abuse or neglect. If the report alleges a
violation of a criminal statute involving sexual or physical abuse,
DHS and an appropriate law enforcement agency shall coordinate the
planning and execution of their investigation efforts to avoid a
duplication of fact-finding efforts and multiple interviews. |
|
|
Upon completion of the assessment of the initial report of child abuse or neglect, a decision must be made whether services are required to provide for the protection and treatment of an abused or neglected child. This determination is the responsibility of DHS. Upon a decision that services are required, DHS promptly shall make a written report of the decision to the juvenile court having jurisdiction in the matter. DHS promptly shall file a report of a decision that services are required under this section in the child abuse information index. The Division of Children and Family Services shall maintain a child abuse information index of all reports of decisions that services are required for child abuse, neglect, or death resulting from abuse or neglect." (Excerpted from North Dakota Legislative Code, Chapter 50-25.1) |
Reports
A State finding of "Services Required" was mapped to "Assessments
in Which Children/Families Were Found to Be in Need of Services."
State findings of "Services Recommended" and "No Services
Recommended" were mapped to "Other." (Item 2.3)
Victims
See section above for information on investigation dispositions.
(Item 3.2)
Maltreatment of the 1,284 children assessed as needing services included Physical Abuse, 160; Neglect, 822; Medical Neglect, 55; Sexual Abuse, 93; and Psychological Abuse, 620. The category sums add to 1,750, indicating that some children suffered more than one type of abuse. (Item 4.1)
The age breakdown of the 1,284 children assessed as needing services is as follows: <1 year old-88 children; 1 year old-64; 2 years-66; 3 years-70; 4 years-64; 5 years-74; 6 years-82; 7 years-94; 8 years-90; 9 years-84; 10 years-81; 11 years-77; 12 years-64; 13 years-71; 14 years-58; 15 years-89; 16 years-37; and 17 years-31. (Item 4.2)
The gender breakdown of the 1,284 children assessed as needing services is as follows: Male-658; Female-624; and Unknown-2. (Item 4.3)
The Hispanic ethnicity breakdown of the 1,284 children assessed as needing services is as follows: Hispanic or Latino-43; Not Hispanic or Latino-1,235; and Unknown-6. (Item 4.4)
The racial breakdown of the 1,284 children assessed as needing services is as follows: African-American-45; American Indian or Alaska Native-337; Asian-2; White-884; Other-10; and Unknown-6. (Item 4.5)
Perpetrators
The 1,825 perpetrators of the neglect and abuse of the 1,284
children assessed as needing services were classified as follows:
Parents-1,591; Other Relatives or Household Members-165; Foster
Parents-4; Child Day Care Providers-23; and Non-Caretakers-42.
(Item 6.1)
OHIO
Leslie B. McGee
Child Protective Services Supervisor
Bureau of Child and Adult Protection
Ohio Department of Human Services
65 East State Street, 5th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
614-466-9824
614-466-0164 Fax
mcgeel@odhs.state.oh.us
General
Ohio Administrative Code rules, effective January 1, 1998,
instituted a two-track system. The system's two tracks are
Assessment and Investigation. Intrafamilial reports of child abuse
and neglect are addressed through the Assessment Track. Third-party
and out-of-home care reports are addressed through the
Investigation Track.
A test to assess risk, the Family Risk Assessment Matrix, is applied to cases in the Assessment Track. A case resolution, which determines the overall level of risk, is reported for the family.
Investigation Track reports are assigned a case disposition of substantiated, indicated, or unsubstantiated. It is important to note that workers and data entry personnel are still being trained in the new system. It is thought that investigations are overreported and assessments are underreported. In several of the responses, the "Children in Need of Services" category includes children given a case resolution of low/moderate risk to high risk. Ohio counts these children as victims.
Reports
The "Other Relatives" reporting source includes parents. (Item
2.2)
Investigations with a disposition/finding are completed for those incidents in which the alleged perpetrator is not a member of the household. All other cases are evaluated through the risk assessment process, a type of diversified-response system. The numbers reported under "In Need of Services" reflect those children reported as "alleged child victims" of an incident of abuse or neglect in which the alleged perpetrator is a member of the household, and the case resolution on the risk assessment was low/moderate risk to high risk. Ohio considers these children to be victims. The numbers reported in "Other" reflect children reported as alleged child victims of an incident of abuse or neglect in which the alleged perpetrator is a member of the household and the case resolution on the risk assessment is none to low. Ohio does not consider these children to be victims. (Item 2.3)
Data on workers were from a Public Children Services Association of Ohio survey. (Items 7.1 and 7.2)
Victims
For information on dispositions, see above. (Item 3.2)
"Children who Received Services" consists of children who were open for ongoing services during the period from 90 days prior to the report to 90 days after the report. (Item 3.3)
"Children Who Did Not Receive Services" consists of children whose cases were closed at the intake level. (Item 3.4)
"Neglect or Deprivation of Necessities" includes medical neglect. (Item 4.1)
Data on Hispanic ethnicity were based on two data sources. (Item 4.4)
Perpetrators
"Child Day Care Providers" only includes babysitters. Child day
care providers may have been reported in the State category
"Non-related adult," which maps to "Non-Caretakers." (Item 6.1)
Fatalities
The number of fatalities is potentially underreported because not
all child deaths are investigated by CPS agencies. (Item 5.1)
Services
Response time is based on the number of reports in which children
began receiving ongoing services within 30 days of the
investigation/assessment being completed. (Item 7.4)
"Children Removed from the Home" consists of children removed up to 90 days after the report was made. (Item 3.5)
"Child Victim Who Had Been Reunited" consists of child victims who had been in foster care whose parent, e.g..a mother, father, adoptive mother, or adoptive father, was listed as the alleged perpetrator. (Item 4.7)
Only Court-Appointed Special Advocates (CASA's) are reported as "Court-Appointed Representatives." Data on the number of court-appointed attorney guardians ad litem (GAL's) or lay person GAL's are not available. (Item 4.9)
OKLAHOMA
Bill Hindman
Technology and Information Unit Administrator
Division of Children and Family Services
Oklahoma Department of Human Services
5905 North Classen Court, Room 402
Oklahoma City, OK 73118
405-767-2525
405-767-2560 Fax
bill.hindman@okdhs.org
General
Data are for the State fiscal year, which began July 1, 1998, and
ended June 30, 1999.
Reports
Prior to April 1, 1999, accepted referrals were coded only as
investigations, and the following dispositions were used:
Confirmed, Ruled Out, Uncertain, Reasonable Parental Discipline,
and Unable to Locate. After April 1, 1999, accepted referrals were
coded as investigations or assessments, and these dispositions were
used (the NCANDS category follows in parentheses): Confirmed,
Confirmed-Court Intervention Requested, Confirmed-Services
Recommended (Substantiated); Ruled Out, Reasonable Parental
Discipline, Services Recommended, Services Not Needed (Not
Substantiated); Services Recommended, Assessments Only (Assessments
in Which Children/Families Were Found to Be in Need of Services);
Unable to Locate (Closed Without a Finding); Uncertain, Failure to
Cooperate, Improper Entry (Other Dispositions); and No Disposition
Recorded (Unknown Disposition). (Item 2.3)
Child Welfare Specialist staff allocations at the beginning of the State fiscal year were used to report the number of CPS staff. (Item 7.1).
Currently, 30 FTE staff conduct screening and intake as a full-time responsibility at the State Child Abuse Hotline and the two metro country hotlines. The remaining staff who conduct these activities part-time are counted as Full-Time Equivalent workers. (Item 7.2)
The State responded to 9,380 Priority 1 reports in an average of 14 hours (required response time is 24 hours); to 19,143 Priority 2 reports in an average of 19 days (required response time is 15 days); and to 6,618 Priority 3 reports in an average of 29 days (required response time is 30 days). (Item 7.3)
Victims
Because more than one incident with a finding of abuse and/or
neglect can be recorded for each child in a referral, the findings
are prioritized so that only one finding for a child is used to
determine the counts in this item. "Confirmed" has the highest
priority. See above for additional information on dispositions.
(Item 3.2)
Since children classified as "In Need of Services" are not considered to be victims of substantiated maltreatment, they are not reflected in these data. (Item 4.1)
Perpetrators
Perpetrators can be counted more than once. If two victims had the
same perpetrator, the perpetrator was counted twice. If the same
two victims were abused again by the same perpetrator, the
perpetrator was counted twice again. A separate division of the
State Department of Human Services investigates alleged abuse by
residential facility staff. Law enforcement personnel investigate
abuse by a non-caretaker or a third party perpetrator. Therefore,
information about abuse by residential facility staff or third
party perpetrators is not documented in the State's SACWIS system.
(Item 6.1)
Services
The data on "Children Who Received Services" were used as the basis
for the calculation of response time. (Item 7.4)
"Children Who Did Not Receive Services" consists of children whose families have not been involved with the court or accepted voluntary services, but may have been referred to other public or private agencies. (Item 3.4)
Each child has been counted only once per removal and the removal must have been 2 or more days between the remove date and the return date. A child may be associated with more than one removal per year and is counted more than once if he meets the above criteria. (Item 3.5)
"Children Who Received Family Preservation Services" consists of child victims who were the subject of prevention or treatment cases dated within 4 years of the reporting year. Data extend back only to 1995, when the SACWIS went on-line statewide. (Item 4.6)
"Children Who Had Been Reunited" counts child victims who have a record, dated within 4 years of the reporting year, of exiting a placement for the reason of reunification. Data extend back only to 1995, when the SACWIS went on-line statewide. (Item 4.7)
"Court Action" counts child victims removed from the home during an investigation if a petition was filed or an adjudicatory hearing review was held between the report date and 90 days after the investigation closure date. (Item 4.8)
State law requires that a child who is involved with the court must be appointed an attorney or guardian ad litem. Therefore all children counted as having received "Court Action" are counted as having received "Court-Appointed Representation." (Item 4.9)
OREGON
Jim White
Research Analyst
Office for Services to Children and Families
Oregon Department of Human Resources
HRB, 2d Floor South
500 Summer Street NE
Salem, OR 97310-1017
503-945-5667
503-581-6198 Fax
jimmwhite@state.or.us
Reports
Data are reported based on the assessment date, not the
referral/report date. Most data are not available until the report
has been assessed. "Other Dispositions" refers to the State
classification "unable to determine." (Item 2.3)
Victims
The number of children for whom allegations or risks of
maltreatment were unsubstantiated was estimated. Counts are
unduplicated. (Item 3.2)
"Medical Neglect" includes 178 "drug exposed infants." (Item 4.1)
Perpetrators
Perpetrator relationship could not be reported for some victims
because separate perpetrator-child victim records could not be
created in cases with more than one child victim. (Item 6.1)
Services
Preventive services are provided/coordinated through local Children
and Family Commissions. (Item 1.1)
"Services" and "Reunification Services" were family-based services provided by the State Office of Services to Children and Families. Counts are unduplicated. (Item 3.3 and 4.6)
The same child could be removed more than once during the year and associated with different referrals/reports. Each removal is counted. (Item 3.5)
PENNSYLVANIA
Bruce Benedik
Information Technology Generalist Administrator
Office of Children, Youth and Families
Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare
Hillcrest Building 53
Harrisburg State Hospital Complex
Harrisburg, PA 17105
717-772-7057
717-772-6442 Fax
bbenedik@dpw.state.pa.us
General
The State does not accept the Basic State Grant and is not required
to submit data to the NCANDS.
Reports
All caseworkers employed on June 30, 1999, were counted. (Item
7.1)
Victims
State policy addresses neglect through a general, protective
service investigation rather than a child protective service
investigation. These neglect cases are not classified as child
maltreatment. The definition of abuse includes "(i.) Any recent act
or failure to act by a perpetrator which causes nonaccidental
serious physical injury to a child under 18 years of age; (ii.) An
act or failure to act by a perpetrator which causes nonaccidental
serious mental injury to or sexual abuse or sexual exploitation of
a child under 18 years of age; (iii.) Any act or failure to act or
series of such acts or failure to act by a perpetrator which
creates an imminent risk of serious physical injury to or sexual
abuse or sexual exploitation of a child under 18 years of age;
(iv.) Serious physical neglect by a perpetrator constituting
prolonged or repeated lack of supervision or the failure to provide
the essentials of life, including adequate medical care, which
endangers a child's life or development or impairs the child's
functioning." (Pennsylvania Child Protective Services Law,
title 23, PA C.S.A. Chapter 63.) (Item 4.1)
State law does not allow the collection of race information. (Items 4.4 and 4.5)
RHODE ISLAND
Leon Saunders
Acting Chief
Management Information Systems Unit
Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families
101 Friendship Street, 5th Floor
Providence, RI 02903
401-222-1080
401-528-3922 Fax
lsaunder@dcyf.state.ri.us
Reports
More than one report source per report may be counted. "Social
Services Personnel" includes mental health personnel. (Item
2.2)
"Closed Without a Finding" includes "unable to complete." (Item 2.3)
The number of CPS workers is based on a manual count made at a point in time. Supervisors were included; administrative and clerical workers were not included. The count of 77 workers includes 12 supervisors; the count of 12 screening workers includes 3 supervisors. (Item 7.1)
Victims
"Children Removed From the Home" includes on children documented as
being removed from home on 48-to-72-hour hold. (Item 3.5)
"Other" types of maltreatment includes institutional allegations such as corporal punishment, other institutional abuse, and other institutional neglect. (Item 4.1)
Fatalities
The number of child fatalities only reflects DCYF investigations of
child deaths due to maltreatment. (Item 5.1)
Services
Preventive services are reported only for children and families
served in the community through DCYF-funded prevention programs.
For the most part, these children and families are not part of
active DCYF caseloads. Programs include Comprehensive Emergency
Services, Project Early Start, and Enhanced Early Start. (Item
1.1)
"Children Reunified" represents only those children reunited since the Federal Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System (SACWIS system, known as RICHIST in Rhode Island) was implemented in August 1997. (Item 4.6)
"Court-Appointed Representatives" is the total number of child-specific petitions for the 1999 calendar year. An advocate is appointed for every petition. The point-in-time figure tends to be larger than the total for the year because it includes child victims with advocates appointed in previous years. (Item 4.9)
SOUTH CAROLINA
Joanne L. Schaekel
Program Liaison, Child Protective Services
Office of Family Preservation and Child Welfare Services
South Carolina Department of Social Services
P.O. Box 1520 Columbia, SC 29202-1520
803-898-7318
803-898-7217 Fax
jschaekel@dss.state.sc.us
General
SACWIS was implemented in October 1998. This submission is the
first effort to develop aggregate data from the system. The data
incorporate data from a pilot CPS alternative assessment project
that is maintained on a separate PC-based system.
Reports
There was a 9-percent drop in the number of investigations accepted
for investigation in 1999. This can be partially attributed to
ongoing problems experienced at the county level in the use of the
new SACWIS. Issues included software and hardware problems, the
absence of skilled data entry staff, a lack of familiarity with the
use of on-line reports to cross-check entries, and the absence of
weekly prompting reports until December 1999. Some counties,
because of staffing problems, established the priority of entering
referrals when the subsequent investigation was substantiated or if
there was a financial transaction involved with an investigation
(for example, a board payment or services through a private
provider). The increased substantiation rate this year (from 22
percent in 1998 to 24 percent in 1999) supports the idea that the
missing referrals were most likely to be associated with unfounded
cases. (Items 2.1 and Item 2.3)
"Closed Without a Finding" includes investigations of families who fled during the investigative phase, thereby interrupting the full investigative/assessment process. Under State statute, these investigations can be reopened for a second full investigation if the family is relocated within 1 year of the original referral. In past years, these investigations have been classified as "Not Substantiated." (Item 2.3)
"Unknown Dispositions" includes investigations in which the case determination was not entered into the SACWIS system. The absence of a suitable prompting report until December 1999 and a variety of data entry issues contributed to this problem. (Item 2.3)
Victims
See Reports section above for information on "Closed Without a
Finding" disposition.
All substantiated investigations are opened to determine whether follow up services are needed. (Item 3.3)
Services
The number of children removed from the home in 1999 increased by
112 percent from the number removed in 1998. This may reflect
better information on removals resulting from integrated databases.
However, the numbers reported include some categories of children
not previously reported, e.g. dependent children who entered into
the custody of the Department of Social Services through various
Family Court processes but whose placement was ultimately
determined not to be directly related to maltreatment. Children in
unsubstantiated cases who were removed from the home most likely
have come into the care of the Department of Social Services under
circumstances ultimately not related to maltreatment by the
caregiver. For example, a relative caregiver may have voided her
guardianship or custody arrangement, a child's special needs may
have exceeded the resources of the parents, or a child may have
been removed by law enforcement for his protection but an
investigation did not subsequently support a finding of
maltreatment. Children in cases with "Unknown Dispositions" who
were removed from the home may have been removed while the SACWIS
database did not list a determination for the case. Because
children are most often placed prior to a case decision, it was
necessary to open an investigative folder with no outcome yet
recorded. (Item 3.5)
"Other" types of maltreatment includes "threat of harm." Increased numbers of children are being counted in this category for a number of reasons: 1) the "threat of harm" category does not carry the statutory employment and judicial consequences associated with a finding of physical or sexual abuse; 2) the category reflects increased reporting and awareness of the potential risks to children who are in living situations affected by substance abuse and/or domestic violence; 3) the substitution of "threat of harm" as the finding has been used as a bargaining tool in a judicial process; and 4) a perception exists that the term "threat of harm" is more client-friendly, and may ease the provision of services to the family. (Item 4.1)
SOUTH DAKOTA
Mary Livermont
Program Specialist
Child Protection Services
South Dakota Department of Social Services
700 Governors Drive
Pierre, SD 57501
605-773-3227
605-773-6834 Fax
mary.livermont.@state.sd.us
General
Assessment has been used along with Investigation since 1995. The
assessment process focuses more on the family than on the specific
child who has been reported as an alleged victim. Whether a report
is assigned an investigation or an assessment is based on a number
of factors, including presence of possible criminal charges, the
prior history of the family, the severity of the allegation, the
health and safety of the child, and other risk issues. The
assessment process is targeted to serve families for whom CPS has
had no prior referrals and parents of younger children.
Family assessments are designed to identify the strengths and needs of the whole family and require the participation of the family as a unit to the degree practical. The allegations contained in the referral serve only as a reference point to assist the family in identifying problems that may be hampering family functioning and do not need to be proved or disproved. The ideal outcome of the family assessment is identification of natural supports for the family, development of a functioning referral network for the family, and a family service agreement, if necessary, to alleviate the problems identified by the family.
Reports
"Other" report sources includes social service personnel,
substitute care providers, and alleged perpetrators. (Item 2.2)
The referral sources for 1,607 assessments were as follows: Medical Personnel, 111; Mental Health Personnel, 69; Legal, law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Personnel, 209; Education Personnel, 292; Child Day Care Providers, 40; Parents, 140; Other Relatives, 149; Friends/Neighbors, 154; Anonymous, 74; Community Persons 78; and Other, 290. (Item 2.2)
The outcomes of the 1,607 assessments were as follows: No Assessment Needed, 111; Assessment Not Completed/Family Refused, 335; Assessment Completed, No Follow-Up Services Needed, 65; Assessment Completed/Family Refused Follow-Up Services, 26; Referred for Child Abuse/Neglect Investigation, 81; Assessment Completed/Family Referred to Other Resources, 131; Assessment Completed/Open for Follow-Up Services, 98; Assessment Not Initiated/Family Declined/Short Term Intervention or Services by CPS, 176; Assessment Not Initiated/Family Referred to Another Agency for Services, 55; Assessment Initiated/Not Completed/Family Dropped Out, 84; Closed Without a Finding, 129; and Unknown/Uncoded, 316. (Item 2.3)
All field program specialists, all supervisors, and all social workers are counted because, at one time or another, these staff are responsible for screening, intake, investigation, or assessment. (Item 7.1)
All field program specialists, all supervisors, and all workers who complete intake are counted. This number only includes staff who regularly complete screening or intake. (Item 7.2)
Victims
"Neglect" includes medical neglect. The types of abuse and neglect
suffered by the 1,607 families whose needs were assessed were as
follows: Physical Abuse, 416; Physical Neglect, 827; Emotional
Maltreatment, 269; and Sexual Abuse, 95. (Item 4.1)
The proportions of victims by age were as follows: age 2 and younger, 5 percent; ages 3-5, 21 percent; ages 6-8, 21 percent; ages 9-11, 20 percent; ages 12-15, 21 percent; ages 16 and older, 8 percent; and age unknown, 4 percent. (Item 4.2)
Fifty-one percent of victims were male, and 49 percent were female. (Item 4.3)
Forty-three percent of victims were American Indian or Alaska Native; 52 percent were white; and 5 percent were coded as other. "Other" includes African-American, Asian, and Unable to Determine. (Item 4.5)
Perpetrators
The definition of child abuse and neglect does not include
non-caretakers as perpetrators of child maltreatment. (Item
6.1)
Services
Preventive services are provided by the Community-Based Family
Resource and Support Grant. It is a goal of CPS to maintain family
unity through a supportive system available for all families.
Respite care has provided families with a positive break,
particularly those families with developmentally disabled children.
(Item 1.1)
TENNESSEE
Louis Martinez, M.S.W.
Program Coordinator, Child Protective Services
Tennessee Department of Children's Services
436 Sixth Avenue North
Nashville, TN 37243
615-532-5624
615-532-6495 Fax
lmartinez@mail.state.tn.us
Reports
Multiple reporters may be counted for one investigation. (Item
2.1)
The number of workers is based on the State office organization chart of CPS case managers. (Item 7.1)
Screening and intake are based in the 95 counties. They are performed on an "as-needed" basis by a variety of staff (including non-CPS staff). Thus, the State is unable to provide a separate count of these positions. (Item 7.2)
Perpetrators
Multiple perpetrators per child victim may be entered. (Item
6.1)
TEXAS
Kenneth S. Bjork II, L.M.S.W.
Program Analyst
Forecasting and Program Statistics
Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services
P.O. Box 149030
Mail Code E-661
Austin, TX 78714-9030
512-438-5924
512-438-2983 Fax
bjorkk@tdprs.state.tx.us
Reports
Multiple reports of an abuse/neglect situation are merged into one
investigation. Therefore, the total number of investigations
conducted was lower than the number of reports referred for
investigation. The following State terms are mapped to the NCANDS
terms in parentheses: "reason to believe" (Substantiated); "ruled
out: (Not Substantiated); "family moved" (No Finding); and "unable
to determine" and "administrative closure" (Other). (Item 2.3)
While data are not available for "Assessments in which children/families were found to be in need of services" at this time, Texas has a "Flexible Response" pilot program in one region and is in the process of statewide implementation. (Item 2.3)
The number of workers is based on CPS direct delivery workers and supervisors. (Item 7.1)
The number of screening and intake workers is based on statewide intake workers and supervisors. (Item 7.2)
Based on 36,468 cases, Texas had a response time for Priority 1 cases of within the required 24 hours, 91 percent of the time. Based on 77,752 cases, the required response time for Priority 2 cases, within 10 days, was met in 92 percent of the cases. (Item 7.4)
Victims
See Reports section above for information on dispositions.
"White" includes Hispanic. (Item 4.5)
Fatalities
Fatalities captured on the automated statewide Child and Adult
Protective Services System include all children for whom the
Department of Protective and Regulatory Services conducted an
investigation into abuse/neglect allegations. (Item 5.1)
Services
Preventive services are provided through the following programs:
Texas Families (1,232 families), Healthy Families (15,965
families), Services to At-Risk Youth (33,072 children), Community
Youth Services (20,189 children), Communities in Schools (43,957
children), and Preparation for Adult Living Programs (2,822
children). Because some preventive services programs cannot provide
data regarding the number of families served, and some services
provided during investigation are considered preventives services,
the number of families served by preventive services cannot be
accurately counted. (Item 1.1)
"Children Who Received Family Preservation" and "Children Who Received Family Reunification" were calculated by determining which child victims had an open "Family Preservation" or "Family Reunification" case during the 5-year period prior to the investigation in which the child was determined to be a victim. (Items 4.6 and 4.7)
UTAH
Navina Forsythe
Information Analyst
Division of Child and Family Services
Utah Department of Human Services
120 North 200 West, Suite 225
Salt Lake City, UT 84103
801-538-4045
801-538-3993 Fax
hsadmin1.nforsyth@state.ut.us
Reports
"Closed Without a Finding" includes "unable to locate," "family
moved," and "transferred to another region." (Item 2.3)
The number of CPS staff and of screening and intake staff was estimated in terms of F